@ Novil:
It’s very rare to see her wearing a dress and with her hair down (or, more specifically, without her side ponytail and with her ‘framing’ strands tied behind her head) – as you point out, the last time was several weeks ago (their time – over 2 years ago our time), when she was visiting her parents’ graves and visiting Alissa to confirm the Shadowdancers would accept the prison break job.

Meanwhile, it’s perhaps worth noting that just a couple of pages after SD51, she heard some blue-boxed text (which sounded suspiciously like her own voice – “Come [undecipherable – in retrospect, perhaps Jael Bara?], I have something for you.”)

I’m concerned about sending Lilith out into the woods by herself. I hope Viviana’s previous orders (BAB-29) still stand and Sandril, Alissa, and Ryn go with her as guards. Lilith is powerful and all that, but you never know what you might meet up with in the forest.

(And having the rest of the team out of the way conveniently leaves Vivi alone with Ilias. 😉 )

Next question: That’s a great looking dress Vivi is wearing; where did she get it? Casper took off leaving her with only one small saddle bag, and the Shadowdancers’ packhorse has disappeared along with them. Any extra clothes Vivi might have had would have been carried on either horse.

I am guessing Lilith has made her “at home” wardrobe available to Vivi.

@ PMark:
I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to send guards with Lii to the forest.
On one hand – how could one think about sending her alone?! On the other hand – it’s very risky to let anyone else close to the maze – losing even one more person would probably bring down the morale of our party. Lilith seems to be the only one capable of magically analyzing the maze, but I don’t think she’s able to prevent herself, not to mention anyone by her side, from being teleported.

I’d say send one person with her – if one of them disappears, the other might still carry some gathered intel to the rest of our group and come up with a solution. Given that Lili is probably the one to break the barrier (she wants to do it 😀 ), the second person would need to disappear. OR Lilith would have to disappear and break the maze from the inside.

I agree on the dress thing – the source is probably Lili’s wardrobe or Alissa’s bag, but looking back at all the pages tagged “Alissa” I can tell she’s not really into dresses – even during the Avaril stealing party at Baltors she was wearing… whatever it is she pretty much always wears, I’m not good with clothes names even in my own language 😛 A tunic maybe?

looking back at all the pages tagged “Alissa” I can tell she’s not really into dresses

You can say that again. She hasn’t appeared in a dress in this entire comic. You mentioned the Baltors’ party. There was also the Graduation Dance. All the women there showed up wearing beautiful gowns. All, that is, except Alissa and Faye.

As to what to call what she wears, the best I can come up with is a blouse or tunic with slacks.

Apsik wrote:
looking back at all the pages tagged “Alissa” I can tell she’s not really into dresses
You can say that again. She hasn’t appeared in a dress in this entire comic. You mentioned the Baltors’ party. There was also the Graduation Dance. All the women there showed up wearing beautiful gowns. All, that is, except Alissa and Faye.
As to what to call what she wears, the best I can come up with is a blouse or tunic with slacks.

In contrast to Lili who has a marked preference for dresses. It is easy to imagine Lili in the dress vivi now wears.

@ grumpydevil:
RH-22 seems to be the best example – Lilith is relieved wearing the robe again, while Alissa stays in her battle suit until the end of the exams. Even Ryn and Ilias changed their clothes / armors. Alissa clearly feels more comfortable in a pretty much battle-ready suit. And still looking good.

This page is so sweet! I love how Ilias, knowing Vivi likes him, is going out of his way to spend time with her. And that comment, “You look great again”. Implying he thought she looked great before… teehee!

She could introduce herself as Lili’s friend, as she said. Or she could do what she did before and introduce herself as Ilias’ fiance. I’m sure Lilith wouldn’t mind. In fact, based on that last panel, I think she would be quite enthusiastic about it.

Viviana: “By the way, where shall we sleep? Here in the house?”
Ilias: “No, in Oakdale’s guest house. It’s got separate rooms for all of us.”
Viviana: “…Are you sure we shall not sleep here in this house? It’s got a queen size bed.”

~~~

Also, Oakdale has a *single* guest house? They must not get a lot of visitors.

She could introduce herself as Lili’s friend, as she said. Or she could do what she did before and introduce herself as Ilias’ fiance. I’m sure Lilith wouldn’t mind. In fact, based on that last panel, I think she would be quite enthusiastic about it.

Oh man, now I’m hoping they meet one of the nobles from that party who goes “Hey! You’re his fiance, right?” in this village. Maybe a bit loud, too.

Odd as it sounds, I think this is the first time Ilias has directly complimented Vivi. He’s told other people he thinks she’s ‘smart and pretty’ twice I can think of, now, but he’s never told her, IIRC.

Ilias seems to have taken Lili’s words to heart and be genuinely considering Vivi as a romantic partner. This has all the makings of the ‘not quite date to see if we think we should consider dating’. From her smile in the last panel, Lili thinks so, too. Her matchmaking seems well on course, and she couldn’t be happier.

I’ve always thought Vivi & Ilias would make a good couple, so I’m happy, too 🙂

I’m not suggesting she take it off, cause that would be a terrible idea, but if the Avaril is such a publicly recognized symbol of the ruler of Illeasar, what are they gonna tell anyone who notices that Vivi is wearing it?

Hmm I just came up with an idea to compare this lava lamp (panel 1) with what we’ve seen during Eldors breakfast (JB-19). The one here has glowing water, but rather dark flowing wax. The one back at Eldors place had transparent water and glowing “wax”. There is a chance that its a normal lava lamp with this effect achieved with magic, but I still think these 2 tubes aren’t lava lamps but “veins” with bluestream flowing through, inside the Tower.